76ers Eliminate Royals as Chamberlain Dominates

Mar. 31, 1965 - Cincinnati threw everything it had against Wilt Chamberlain, but it wasn’t enough. The great 76er center put on one of his greatest all-around performances at Convention Hall tonight to eliminate the Royals from the NBA playoffs, 119-112.

He did everything one could ask from a superstar. He blocked 11 would-be baskets cleanly, grabbed 26 rebounds, was directly responsible for five baskets with nifty passing, and scored 38 points himself.

“It was an almost flawless performance,” a happy coach Dolph Schayes said. “I’ve seen him score more and rebound more, but I’ve never seen him do all the things he did tonight at the same time.”

Tonight, Wilt had his fadeaway jumper working in near-perfect order, and he didn’t hesitate about driving to the basket when he had any daylight. Royals coach Jack McMahon did everything he could to stop the Big Dipper. 

“Nothing worked,” he said afterward.

Cincinnati’s Wayne Embry opened up by leaning his 265-pound frame against Wilt and picked up three quick fouls. Bud Olsen took over, but he couldn’t come close to Wilt’s jumpers. Jerry Lucas volunteered for duty, but he was pulled off when picked up three fouls. Then came Happy Hairston, whose smile gave way to a growl when Wilt went over him for a guide-in shot. Bulky George Wilson then got in a couple of shoves, but he had nothing to show for his efforts but three converted Chamberlain foul shots.

“I felt good, better than I have in quite a few days,” Wilt said. “But I’m not ready to celebrate yet. This is just the first plateau. I want to win as bad as anyone, and I’m happy we won tonight. But we’ve still got to beat Boston, and I’ll feel much happier after we do that.”

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